Muskegon Heights Public School Academy System in Michigan Adopts Online Speech Therapy to Serve Students with Special Needs
PresenceLearning helps 60 K-12 students get back on track with engaging online speech therapy services
SAN FRANCISCO, April 2, 2014 – Muskegon Heights Public School Academy System (MHPSAS) in Muskegon Heights, Michigan has adopted PresenceLearning, the leader in online speech therapy and other special education-related services for K-12 students, to provide 60 of its students with high quality online speech therapy. Through the adoption and implementation of PresenceLearning, the district was able to effectively fill its speech-language pathologist vacancy and transition from on-site to online therapy for its students.
“While there was some skepticism at first about switching to online speech therapy, we have been truly impressed with what we’ve seen,” said Glenda Robinson-Scott, supervisor of special education at MHPSAS. “Most important, students are truly excited to go to their therapy sessions because of the high levels of interaction and engagement, as well as the close rapport they have developed with their online therapist from PresenceLearning.”
MHPSAS, which is part of Mosaica Education Inc.’s network of charter schools and online academies, is using PresenceLearning with students at all four of its sites – two elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. MHPSAS implemented the online service in the beginning of the 2013-14 school year and has already seen positive outcomes. “We have definitely seen some breakthroughs,” said Kirk Sanford, a paraprofessional at the district who works directly with students during their online sessions.
“A normal session lasts 30 minutes, but students have actually asked them to go for longer,” Sanford continued. “Based on individual student needs, the sessions cover a lot of topics and techniques in a really unique and engaging way. The overall excitement and enthusiasm from the students, especially at the middle and high school levels, is encouraging and says a lot about the power of PresenceLearning and online therapy.”
Since 2009, PresenceLearning’s online speech therapy services have provided schools with a practical, affordable new option for service delivery: web-based access to a nationwide network of live, highly qualified, fully licensed speech-language pathologists who are available whenever and wherever they are needed. This past year, PresenceLearning added occupational therapy (OT) and online assessments to their service offering. By partnering with PresenceLearning, school districts can fill staffing gaps related to acute and chronic SLP and OT shortages, reduce high caseloads for onsite personnel, reduce their backlog of assessments, improve student outcomes and become more efficient. PresenceLearning also offers access to technical specialists, as well as culturally and linguistically diverse speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists.
By the end of the 2013-2014 school year, PresenceLearning will have delivered 450,000 live online therapy sessions in public, charter and virtual school districts of all sizes nationwide.
About PresenceLearning
PresenceLearning (www.presencelearning.com) is the leading provider of live online speech therapy services for K-12 students and now offers online occupational therapy as well. The company offers school districts web-based access to a growing, nationwide network of hundreds of highly qualified speech language pathologists (SLPs) and occupational therapists (OTs) via live videoconferencing combined with the latest in evidence-based practices and powerful progress reporting.
Serving thousands of students in public, charter and virtual schools throughout the U.S., PresenceLearning has shown that online speech and language therapy is practical, affordable and highly effective. PresenceLearning is an ASHA-approved continuing education provider for SLPs and a U.S. Department of Education grant-winner, dedicated to bringing the highest clinical standards to online therapy.
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